Welcome to English for Business and Entrepreneurship, a course created by the University of Pennsylvania, and funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of English Language Programs.
To enroll in this course for free, click on “Enroll now” and then select "Full Course. No certificate."
This course is designed for non-native English speakers who are interested in learning more about the global business economy. In this course, you will learn about topics and language necessary to succeed in the international workplace. You will explore business English through authentic readings and video lectures, while learning about business vocabulary, concepts, and issues. Unit 1 will provide an introduction to entrepreneurship by examining ideas, products, and opportunities. In unit 2, you will learn about the basics of market research, including how to identify an opportunity. The next unit in the course will focus on business plans, why these plans are important, and will give you a chance to practice composing a business plan. In the final unit of the course, we will present basics for funding a business and will help you create a persuasive presentation, or pitch, based on a business plan.
Unless otherwise noted, all course materials are available for re-use, repurposing and free distribution under a Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution license.
Supplemental reading materials were provided by Newsela, which publishes daily news articles at a level that's just right for each English language learner.

講師

Amy Nichols

James Riedel

字幕

Welcome to unit four, video three, Equity Financing. In videos one and two, we learned about two ways that an entrepreneur can cover start-up costs and operating costs. Bootstrapping and debt financing. In this video, we'll discuss a third option called equity financing. This option involves selling shares to investors. Shares are ownership in the business. The word equity means ownership. First, we'll discuss what it means to sell ownership in a business. Then we will learn about different investors who might be interested in buying shares or providing equity financing. This time, let's use cricket flower as an example. Imagine that an entrepreneur has started this business. Startup costs were high because of the special supplies needed. The entrepreneur bootstrapped or used personal savings for seed money. The entrepreneur also used debt financing by taking out a small loan from parents. This money helped the entrepreneur buy supplies to start selling new products made from Cricket Flour in the family kitchen at home. Now, the entrepreneur is getting lots of product orders. The entrepreneur needs to open a new larger cricket flour bakery and hire an employee. More funds are needed to pay for this. The entrepreneur decides to look for an investors who are interested in owning a share of the business. These are called equity investors. Remember, equity means ownership. When entrepreneurs meet with possible equity investors, they do the same thing they do when they go to borrow money from a bank. They present the business plan, and have an effective conversation to persuade the investors that this business will be a success. In this case, they are also persuading the investors that this is a good ownership investment. They are asking the investors to make an equity investment by buying a share of the business. Like debt financing, equity investments also have requirements. Let's use an example to explain these. Let's imagine that the entrepreneur sells an investor a 40% share in the company for a $10,000 investment. What does this mean? First, the entrepreneur gets $10,000 to help cover the costs of opening the new bakery and hiring the new employee. Unlike a loan, this money does not need to be repaid. Why? Unlike debt financing, the investor will not get interest for this investment. Instead the investor is now an owner, along with the entrepreneur. The investor will get 40% of the businesses future profits. The entrepreneur will get 60%. Also, as a part owner the investor gets some control of the business. For example, the investor will have a say in decisions that affect the business. These decisions might be about how to grow the business or, even, whether to sell the business. If the business is sold, the investor will receive 40% of the profits from selling the company. For example, if the business sells for $100,000, the investor gets 40% or $40,000. The entrepreneur gets 60% or $60,000.